Brief Study on quality management of Rural roads

1. RURAL ROADS
Quality management of rural roads
Submitted to; Presented by;
Prof Suresh. Meghna(R17MTE17)
Ramyashree S (R17MTE25)

2. Mission of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
• Launched on 25th December 2000 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to
provide road connectivity in rural areas of the country.
• Programme envisages connecting all eligible unconnected habitations with a
population of 500 persons (as per 2001 census) and above in plain areas,
• 250 persons and above in Special Category States (States of the North-East,
Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand), the Tribal
(Schedule V) areas, the Desert (as identified in the Desert Development
Programme) areas and in the 88 selected Tribal and Backward Districts in 9
States under Integrated Action Plan (IAP),
• Up-gradation of selected rural roads to provide full farm to market
connectivity is also an objective of the scheme, though not central to it.

4.  Project Implementation by the States/UTs: SRRDA at
State level and PIUs at district level.
 NRRDA at National Level for technical support to MoRD
 Maintenance budgeted by the States
 Inbuilt post construction 5-year maintenance
 Three tier Quality Monitoring Mechanism at District
level (PIU), State level (SQMs) and National Level
(NQMs)
 Comprehensive MIS (OMMAS)
4
PMGSY - SALIENT FEATURES

5. Quality Assurance:
First tier
 In-house quality control at Programme Implementation Unit (PIU)
level.
 Objective of this tier is process control through mandatory tests on
material at field laboratory and workmanship.
 A Quality Assurance Handbook have been developed and provided
to field functionaries in view of better understanding of quality
control requirement, equipment and testing procedures,
management systems
 The concept of stage passing to ensure clear accountability.
 Establishment of field laboratory

6. a) The official responsibility for proper Quality Control Tests is at Programme
Implementing Unit level (PIU). If the Contractor is responsible for infrastructural
arrangements for Quality Control Tests, then the following check mechanism may
be prescribed.
• All the tests should be conducted by the designated qualified staff of the Contractor
and the Quality Control Register Part-I should be maintained by him.
• 50% of the tests should be conducted in the presence of the in-charge JE of the
work and the JE should record his observations in the Quality Control Register
Part-I.
• 20% of the tests should be conducted in the presence of the in-charge AE of the
work and the AE should record his observations in the Quality Control Register
Part-I.
• 5% of the tests should be conducted in the presence of the in-charge EE/ PIU of the
work and the EE/PIU should record his observations in the Quality Control Register
Part-I. The EE/PIU will also ensure that the Non-Conformance reports are issued in
time and the Contractor takes action in time through a mechanism described in Para
(b) below.
• The Superintending Engineer (SE), during his visits to the work will oversee the
Quality Control Tests and record his observation in the Quality Control Register
Part-I. The SE will monitor that the nonconformance reports are issued in time and
the Contractor takes action in time.

7. Quality Assurance:
Second tier
• Independent quality monitoring at State level
• Regular inspection of works has been envisaged for ensuring better quality.
• Every works is inspected at three stages, i.e. initial stage, middle stage and
final stage of construction.
• Technical Guidelines have been prescribed to the States.
• An online system of entry of observations of independent monitors along
with photographs of the inspected roads has been developed.
• Orientation Programme aimed at providing practical training of the above
initiative to Chief Engineers, State Quality Coordinators (SQC) and selected
State Quality Monitors (SQMs) were also organized.

8. • Function of the second tier of independent quality management is to
ensure that the Quality Management System at the site is
functioning satisfactorily and suggest possible improvements where
required. For this, they may be required to carry out and report:
a) Independent quality tests to verify that the quality management
system achieving its intended objectives.
b) Systemic flaws in the quality control process and action to
improve the process.
• The role of second tier in monitoring the quality of the work is of
crucial importance during construction stage and therefore the State
Quality Monitors are required to carry out inspections at appropriate
stages of work under progress. The independent Quality
Management Division of the executing agency may function as the
second tier. The State Rural Roads Development Agency will frame
suitable guidelines for proper functioning of second tier.

9. Quality Assurance:
Third-tier -Independent National Quality Monitors (NQMs)
• Independent National Quality Monitors (NQMs) are deployed by NRRDA for
inspection of road works at random
• The National Quality Monitors are senior Engineers retired from the State
Governments or Government of India Organizations
• Guidelines for NQM inspections have been made objective
• Guidelines for photographic recording of inspections by NQM have also been
prescribed.
• Orientation programmes are organized for NQMs
• An independent Selection Committee for the empanelment as new NQMs.
• Performance evaluation of the existing NQMs is also carried out by
independent Performance Evaluation Committee

10. The National Rural Roads Development Agency shall
prescribe the guidelines for the third tier from time to time.
The objective of this third tier of quality mechanism is to
monitor the quality of road works executed by the States with
a view to ensuring that the road works under the programme
conform to standards and to see whether the quality
management mechanism in the State is effective. The role of
this tier is to provide guidance to State implementation
machinery and the field engineers rather than ‘fault finding’.

11. Maintenance:
• All PMGSY roads are covered by 5-year maintenance contracts, with the
Standard Bidding Document.
• Maintenance funds to service the contract is to be budgeted by the State
Government and placed at the disposal of the SRRDA in a separate
Maintenance Account.
• on expiry of 5-year post-construction maintenance are to be placed under
Zonal maintenance contracts consisting of 5-year maintenance including
renewal as per cycle.
• Till such time as District Panchayats take over maintenance functions,
the PIUs will continue to be responsible for administration of post-
construction and zonal maintenance contracts of PMGSY roads.

12. ON-LINE MANAGEMENT, MONITORING AND ACCOUNTING
SYSTEM (OMMAS)
• Main Application Software Modules include Rural Road Plan & Core
Network, Proposals, Tendering & Contracting, Execution (Physical
and Financial Progress), Quality Monitoring, Funds Flow and
Receipt & Payment Accounts (work accounts).

13. Check-list for Visiting Officers
S.
No.
Item Description Action to done by visiting officer Remarks
1 Posting of District
Programme
Implementation
Unit (PIU)
To check if PIU for PMGSY works at the district
level, generally an Executive Engineer, is
posted or not.
2 Status of on-going
works
Obtain the list of on-going works alongwith its
progress and bottle-necks if any from PIU
3 Status of
completed roads
under 5-year
maintenance
period
Obtain the list of completed roads which are
under 5-year maintenance period alongwith
total maintenance commitment amount and
maintenance expenditure made till date from
PIU.
4 Citizen
Information Board
Check if Citizen Information Boards and Work
Information Boards are displayed in local
language at start of road indicating details of
work and volume of materials used in each
layer of the pavement.

14. Completed road
S.
No.
Item
Description
Action to done by visiting officer Remarks
5 Riding quality of
road
Check riding quality of road by running the
vehicle at 40 km/hr. Ride should be comfortable
for good road.
6 Surface condition
of road
Check if potholes, cracks, erosion, depression
are visible.
7 Proper width of
shoulders
The shoulder width should be at least 1.8 mt for
3.75 mt wide road and 1.5 mt for 3.00 mt wide
road
8 Condition of
shoulder
Check if the shoulders are free of vegetation
and suitable for pedestrian to walk.
9 Camber in road
surface
Check if cross slope (camber) is provided for
flow of water to the sides. There should be no
stagnation of water on the road.

15. Completed road (contd…)
S.
No.
Item Description Action to done by visiting officer Remark
10 Road signage Check if the Traffic signage especially near
habitations and school zones, sharp
curves, narrow bridges, junctions,
submersible bridges and causeways are
placed. Hazard markers like reflectorized
delineators are provided at dangerous
locations.
11 Repair to rain cuts
on shoulders
Check if the rain cuts on shoulders are
repaired
12 Maintenance of
cross drainage
works (Culverts)
Check if the culverts/Hume pipes etc are
cleaned for free flow of rain water

16. Completed road (contd…)
S.
No.
Item
Description
Action to done by visiting officer Remarks
13 Tree plantation
along roads
Check if Tree plantation in convergence
with MGNREGA or other schemes has
been done along the completed PMGSY
roads
14 Improvement in
transportation
services
Ask the villagers if there is improvement
in transportation services to the targeted
habitation.
15 Socio-economic
impact by
provision of all
weather
connectivity
Ask the villagers if there is any benefit of
the road.

17. Ongoing works
S.
No.
Item Description Action to done by visiting officer Remark
16 Field laboratory by
the contractor
Check if Field laboratory has been
established by the contractor at site and
check if the material testing register is
maintained.
17 Contractor's
engineer
Check if the Engineer has been employed
by contractor or not.
18 Quality control
registers
Check if the quality control registers are
maintained at site or not.
19 Inspections by
State Quality
Monitors (SQM)
Check the records that if the inspections
have been conducted by SQMs or not.
(Every works is inspected at three stages,
i.e. initial stage, middle stage and final
stage of construction)
20 Any other
observation

18. THANK U